6th of March 2024
Jerusalem, the Holy City—the place of Christ’s Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. The Jewel of the Church! At this time of year, Orthodox Christians from around the world make a pilgrimage to visit the holy sites and to trace the life of Christ through his earthly ministry and triumph on the Cross. However, many holy sites, including those under the care and custodianship of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have suffered great financial hardship due to a lack of pilgrims both because of the current Israeli-Hamas war and from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. During Lent 2024, we are taking a sacred pilgrimage of the heart.
The Order has heard the heartfelt plea of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and of Archbishop Alexios of Gaza directly, and we call upon our fellow Orthodox Christians from around the world to come together in charity and service, to stand together with us, and join us in helping Archbishop Alexios and the wider needs of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem during this dire time.
Today is exactly 150 days since the start of the war in Gaza, and 138 days since the Israeli Defense Force bombed and killed 18 Orthodox Christians at Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church (the oldest church in Gaza and the third oldest Christian Church in the entire world). From the start of the war until now, there have been over 30,000 casualties including the deaths of at least 12,300 children. On average, 9 adults and 6 children are killed every hour in Gaza. These are numbers that are hard to comprehend, however, it is the reality that exists on the ground. As reported to us again yesterday by the secretary of His Eminence Archbishop Alexios, Gaza has turned into a mass graveyard of half-exposed decomposing corpses with no viable way for the living to retrieve them for burial.
In America and in the West, we have the luxury of distance. We have the luxury to look from afar and to pity the suffering of others caught in war and persecution. However, we cannot be silent when atrocities and genocide are being waged against our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. We need to walk and be with them. And although our feet may not walk in the Holy Land or Jerusalem, we can still make a spiritual pilgrimage of the heart through almsgiving and prayer towards the needs of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and to the very real and desperate needs of our brothers and sisters in Gaza who are currently seeking refuge inside the ancient walls of Saint Porphyrios.
Our hope and goal is to raise at least $100,000 from the beginning of Great and Holy Lent to Holy Pascha. We understand many of you, including us who make up the Order, might be going through financial trials. Yet, amid struggle, Christ himself sees our sacrificial gifts and steadfast hearts, even if it might seem modest to some. As our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven. For Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, please let us lift up our hearts unto the Lord by investing our temporal treasures, be it $10, $100, or $1,000 for the preservation of the place that foreshadows our heavenly Jerusalem. Every little bit uplifts and preserves that which is priceless and sacred to our faith!
The Order remains committed to the community of Saint Porphyrios, to Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias, to the Christians of Gaza, to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and to all the Orthodox Christians who live and breathe across the Holy Land and Greater Middle East.
Your brother and co-servant in Christ,
Konstantine Pandolfi E.M.
